Contemplative Bible Reading

This post is out of the ordinary in several ways:

• I am posting it the day I write it
• It is neither a Saturday nor a Sunday
• It is not based on a single passage

Yesterday, my 12-month-old grandson James fell ten or twelve feet from the loft in the apartment where he lives with my son and daughter-in-law. James walks away with a hairline fracture in his skull and a couple of barely visible bruises on his back. I hate to speculate about my condition had I suffered the same fall (broken collarbone, broken wrist, broken…). Hence, the title of this post:

angels catch babies

My daughter-in-law took James up to their loft to fetch something. She turned her back for a nanosecond, and James went through the bars. James is too big to fit between the bars, but he doesn’t know that.

Now to the subject of angels and babies and other people, too.

There is much disagreement on the topic of guardian angels. Wikipedia has an informative page on the topic. The disagreement does not surprise me as (1) angels are largely invisible to us and (2) they work against Satan, he doesn’t like their work, so he sows seeds of discord on this topic.

Let’s look at the Bible (all passages from the New International Version):

Matthew 18:10

“See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”

This is Jesus speaking, and it reads to me like children have their angels.

Acts 12:12-15

¹²When this had dawned on him (PETER), he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. ¹³Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. ¹⁴When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”

¹⁵“You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”

Note the last phrase of verse 15, it must be his angel. This alludes to a belief at the time that each person has an angel.

Hebrews 1:14

Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

I interpret those who will inherit salvation as people. Hence, angels are spirits sent to serve people.

I understand how people can interpret each of these (and many other) passages in a manner different from what I offer here. I know there are many who do interpret these differently.

Yet, still I sit here the day after my grandson falls ten or twelve feet and receives a hairline fracture and a few bruises. I didn’t see an angel catch James. No one saw an angel catch James. I merely take it on faith.

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I recommend reading the Wikipedia article. It discusses these passages and others in both the Old and New Testaments.